TALL AFAR, Iraq, Sept. 14 -- The Iraqi known as "The Source" slipped the borrowed U.S. military fatigues over his clothes in the back of the armored personnel carrier. He donned a black ski mask that covered everything but his eyes.
He stepped out of the back of the vehicle and addressed the interpreter who would in turn address the company commander who would lead the search for terrorists this day.
"The village. He wants you to arrest all the men in the village," the interpreter told Army Capt. Eric Beaty, commander of Company C, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment.
"They're all bad?" Beaty asked.
The interpreter consulted The Source. "Yes, all bad," he said.
"Well, what we'll do is we'll put you up on the top of the Stryker, and you can tell us where to go left or go right, okay?" Beaty said.
A half-dozen Strykers, 21-ton armored vehicles, then rumbled up the road in search of the shadowy enemy that has made much of Iraq -- including this remote agricultural city near the Syrian border -- a dangerous place for U.S. forces.
The six hours that followed revealed much about the challenges faced by U.S. soldiers who are trying to find the men who are trying to kill them.
U.S. forces have controlled Tall Afar since Sunday, after battles last week that killed an estimated 104 Iraqis and displaced 50,000 to 100,000 residents. On Tuesday, soldiers reopened the city to those who had fled. They searched for insurgents among all military-age males who entered, and in sweeps like the one recommended by The Source.
The day began about 11 a.m. at Checkpoint 3 along an asphalt road the military refers to as Route Santa Fe.
Beaty positioned The Source in a Stryker at one of the two rear hatches normally used by machine gunners. His torso and hooded face peeked out of the vehicle as he led the U.S. troops to the village of Tolelhar, on the city's western outskirts.
Seated inside were Pfc. Mario Rutigliano, 19, of Clifton, N.J.; Pfc. Clyde Gean, 23, of Wilmington, N.C.; and Spec. Jared Cate, 20, of Concord, N.H. Along with the rest of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team here, the three have been attacked for months with grenades, roadside bombs, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
One of the insurgents' favorite weapons in Tall Afar are RKG-3 hand grenades. The weapons look like coffee cans on sticks and, when flung by insurgents, float toward the target on tiny parachutes, then explode in midair, sending the force of the blast straight down.
"We need to get some music in here," Rutigliano said as the Stryker rolled toward the village.
